


Storm

by Dedicate Kiwicrocus (cranky__crocus)



Series: SMACKDOWN '11 Round Two - Team Discipline [35]
Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/F, Goldenlake, smackdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-02
Updated: 2011-06-02
Packaged: 2017-10-20 01:27:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/207343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cranky__crocus/pseuds/Dedicate%20Kiwicrocus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Summersea marketplace was crowded with crafters, merchants, Traders, beggars, watchers and even scattered noble family members.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Marketplace

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SMACKDOWN at Goldenlake: fiefgoldenlake.proboards.com

            The Summersea marketplace was crowded with crafters, merchants, Traders, beggars, watchers and even scattered nobles. Lark and Rosethorn lugged out their supplies, hardly able to hear themselves think. Lark took a bobbin of cotton thread and poured some of her power into it before placing it in Rosethorn’s pocket, from which she drew a hemp cord.

            “Power, please,” she urged. Rosethorn stared at it and nodded. Lark slipped it into her pocket.

            _It’s crowded_ , Lark stated between their now-tied magic, fingering the hemp cord between trips to the cart.

            Rosie touched hers. _First market after rainy season._ She dropped a box on their table and pointed to the sky. _But look up._

            Lark followed Rosethorn’s gaze: clear skies, as far as she could see, when once it had been as crowded with clouds as the marketplace was with people; the market then had been half or a quarter as full.

            _Shall we explore, after our goods are sold?_ she asked her partner, grinning over the box she lifted from the cart. Rosethorn returned the expression from where she stood arranging potted plants at their table.

            _For old time’s sake, sure. It’s rare enough we don’t have the children._

            _Mila bless Niklaren Goldeye._

_Occasionally._


	2. Caught in the Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So much for the perfect day out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for SMACKDOWN at Goldenlake: fiefgoldenlake.proboards.com

Under clear skies, Lark and Rosethorn meandered through the stalls and carts of the Summersea marketplace, later than the largest mass of shoppers tended to stay. Their goods had sold quickly, as they tended to, and had once more been in too-short supply—but there was little they could do for that, being only two dedicates with two hands each.

            Most of the earnings went to the Temple straightaway, but dedicates were allowed some limited funding for their own goods. It was also an unspoken belief that purchasing the occasional item from the marketplace helped the community. Dedicates tended to buy from the smaller stands, those that were up-and-coming from poorer streets.

            Rosethorn bought Lark a new set of bobbins from a girl who looked as though she had just barely escaped the Mire—or perhaps _did_ live there, between markets. Lark purchased a basil plant for Rosethorn from a man with badly-patched clothes; as she swapped coins for the plant, she swept her hand over his outfit and watched it mend itself. He smiled and gave her a second plant.

            They stopped at the fountain and took out their gifts; water splashed across their noses. The two looked up to find storm clouds had appeared once more as they were shopping. Heat lightning—far away, with not a sound—appeared to the southeast. Lark was heart-broken: their clear skies were gone.

            “Looks like the seasons fooled us again,” Rosie remarked, smirking. She handed Lark the new bobbins.

            Lark placed the two basil plants in her partner’s hands. “Temple Road is going to be a muddy mess with the storm coming from the southeast.” She sighed. “So much for the perfect day out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! C:


	3. A Night Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been too long since she’d had a proper adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for SMACKDOWN at Goldenlake: fiefgoldenlake.proboards.com

            Rosethorn inspected the clouds over their heads and followed them to the southeast, where lightning flashed. Thunder erupted half a minute later. It was a fast-moving storm, by her reckoning.

            “Niko has them again tomorrow, doesn’t he?”

            Lark wasn’t sure what the woman was getting at. “Yes…”

            “We could send word by messenger bird—it would reach before the storm—and stay in Summersea for the night. That is, if we act quickly.” Another large raindrop had splashed across the bridge of Rosethorn’s nose; she wiped it away. Lark was still staring at her. “‘Acting quickly’ usually requires a hasty answer, Lark.”

            Lark felt suddenly wired at the idea of a night away with Rosethorn—they hadn’t slept outside of Discipline in longer than she could easily say. She worked to hide her excitement, but had the feeling Rosethorn could still read her widened eyes with ease. “Yes, by all means, _let’s_. Niko wanted to watch Tris in a storm anyway!”

            Rosethorn’s lips stretched into a sarcastic curve. “The gods placed this in our hands, then. Come now, let’s get to the Guildhall to send the message.”

            Lark positively beamed. It had been too long since she’d had a proper adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! C:


	4. Thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clear skies could bring her a perfect day, she concluded, but the clap of thunderclouds and Rosethorn gave her the perfect night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for SMACKDOWN at Goldenlake: fiefgoldenlake.proboards.com

Thunder cracked above their heads, probably the result of another lightning bolt hitting the clock tower of Summersea market’s Guildhall; Lark and Rosethorn were nearby.

“This is insanity,” Lark whispered to Rosethorn when she returned to their room at the inn. Rosethorn had agreed to strengthen all the inn’s garden plants against the storm; Lark had spelled the curtains to act as added protection for the glass. They wouldn’t have been punished for exchanging payment for goods—a room to sleep—but it was generally the way of the dedicate to instead offer a service. “I hope Niko got our message that we’re stuck in Summersea.”

            “I’m sure he did, and it may be insanity,” Rosethorn affirmed, grinning, “but it’s worth it. Do you see what that is?” She gestured at the object behind Lark, who turned to look.

            “It’s a bed,” the woman answered, perplexed as to Rosethorn’s excitement.

            “It’s a _double bed_.”

            Lark suddenly shared Rosethorn’s grin. “High-quality sheets—higher than I expected.”

            “I think I may have to test that for myself,” Rosie quipped, tugging her habit off and slipping under the blanket and sheets. She hummed and closed her eyes. Thunder boomed once more outside their window; Rosie opened her eyes again and gestured at the bed. “I was under the impression I wasn’t sleeping alone tonight.”

            Lark slipped out of her habit as well. As she hopped onto the bed she crooned, “I was under the impression we weren’t sleeping at all quite yet.”

            Rosethorn captured her lips and flipped her over, pressing the woman’s dark curls into the yielding pillow. “We aren’t,” Rosie whispered over her lips.

            Lark smiled and wove their fingers together, kissing Rosethorn’s knuckles. For the moment they indulged in their togetherness and nudity, brazen in the passion they so frequently had to subdue with four children in the house. For many moments after, as the storm bellowed and boomed around Summersea, they grew more active. Lark hollered out with the thunder and recalled that true bliss was this—the feeling of Rosethorn in and around her, uncaring of who could hear her response.

            Clear skies could bring her a perfect day, she concluded, but the clap of thunderclouds and Rosethorn gave her the perfect night. Rosethorn did not appear to disagree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! C:


	5. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At least Lark and Rosethorn didn’t look too haggard from their longer-than-anticipated trip. There was always that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for SMACKDOWN at Goldenlake: fiefgoldenlake.proboards.com

Briar, Sandry, Daja, Tris and Niko were staring at them as they entered the cottage, Rosethorn and Lark as muddy as the post-storm path outside. Even Little Bear whined at them, tail wagging slowly as if confused; he had never spent a night in Discipline without at least _one_ of them being there.

            “You told us you were staying in Summersea by _messenger bird?_ ” Niko posed, arms crossed over his chest and eyebrow raised over accusatory black eyes.

            “There wasn’t another way.”

            “ _Bird_ , Rosethorn? Scrying, magic, a precautionary plan before leaving…”

            “Well and good to say that _now_ , isn’t it, but we didn’t have one!” Rosethorn shot back, clearly impatient. Her face was turning red. Briar was grinning: he’d never seen his _teacher_ scolded before, let alone _both_ Discipline dedicates! Rosethorn shot him a glare that sobered him up quick.

            “What if I hadn’t been here?”

            “You were. You told us you would be.” Rosethorn’s eyebrow overshot Niko’s in its arch; she stared at him with cool brown eyes. “Should we start doubting your word, now? Is that your preference?”

            Niko’s eyes narrowed. After a few uncomfortable seconds his arms dropped and he turned to Lark, who was flushed in the face as her eyes darted between the children. “Lark. You did your best. This will be the precautionary plan in the event of being swept away in Summersea, I suppose, at least when I am here.”

            She nodded, her smile sheepish. “Thank you. I feel incredibly foolish.” At least Sandry looked sympathetic—and not secretly delighted like Briar.

            “Oh, I see how it is!” Rosethorn exclaimed, stepping out of her boots and heading straight for Niko. “She ‘did her best’ but I’m the hare-brained one? _Favouritism_ , Niko, _favouritism?_ ” she mimicked his voice, but was beginning to sport a grin.

            “I am merely calling a spade a spade, as you would say,” he drawled, slow and unconcerned, as he turned to fix the newly-arrived dedicates tea from their own home. He seemed to be gathering a certain kick from the events.

            “Well I am not a spade and Lark is not a singing cherub, so your assessment is lacking.” Rosethorn turned to Briar and gestured over her shoulder at Niko. “Briar, never listen to a word he tells you.”

            Briar grinned. “But he was just telling me last night how I should appreciate you more.”

            Rosethorn hid her face behind the tea Niko handed her—right on cue, with a perverse grin of his own. She might have been blushing as Lark was. “Well. Listen to him sometimes, then. But only when he’s right.”

            The four children exchanged looks, all grins and trouble and appreciation. Everything was back to normal, then, save that Niko was officially a house-bird, no matter how much he travelled; he couldn’t keep it from _them_ any longer.

            In the evening, Rosethorn asked Lark if it had been worth it. Lark thought for a moment and concluded it was, and she’d do it over, but she’d prefer never to feel so shamefaced in front of the children _ever_ again.

            “It’s good for them, you know,” Rosethorn commented as she set the kettle back on the shelf. “It’s good for them to know adults can be wrong, and everything can still be okay—without massive earthquakes, pirate subterfuge-and-slavery and deadly forest fires.”

            Lark stopped in her tracks and stared at her partner, eyebrows high. “Look who’s the expert now.”

            Rosethorn shot her a look. “If I’m an expert on anything, it’s on how parents can be wrong. And raiders aside…raiders aside, I turned out alright.”

            “You turned out better than alright,” Lark corrected, smiling softly and running her fingers through the woman’s hair. “You turned out wonderfully.”

            “Shush you. Don’t go all mushy on me just because we had one night out.”

            They heard movement from upstairs—children coming down the roof ladder. Rosethorn and Lark exchanged their own looks, acknowledging that it was clearly time to step back into their other role.

            “We did well yesterday,” Rosethorn told Lark, eyes sparkling. “Our goods lasted a long time, didn’t they? And we got the secluded corner to ourselves, thank Mila. Though perhaps next month should be less exciting.”

            “Perhaps,” Lark agreed, smiling wide, “but at least this month was perfect.”

            Briar, Sandry and Tris wrinkled their noses—how could it be _perfect_ if it was that muddy? Daja just laughed— _kaqs_ were silly, fearing dirt and water as they did.

            At least Lark and Rosethorn didn’t look too haggard from their longer-than-anticipated trip. There was always that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! C:

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! C:


End file.
